We have used a 1 year tax return conventional loan underwriting because my husband's business generated far more income in 2014 than in 2013.  

Is conventional financing my best option?

Along with an owner's policy, a lender's policy is available for any mortgagee, it will be required with conventional mortgages.To say that TI is not required by law, that is a bit off, many states define passing good title to a property as passing an insurable title.

I just default back to what I do were I can open escrow without a contract and with a phone call.. but that's because of the volume of bizz I do with title company .. and our title plants are digital.. so running a title search is not as big an issue like it is in many east coast states I work in.. were they have to actually hire a title abstractor to physically pull title.. ( old school :))

Meanwhile, he plans to buy a house as an investment to set himself up for conventional lending investment where after you have managed a rental for 2 years (showing on your tax income) then when you next buy, as an investor the potential income from the house is added to your actual income.  

A "conventional" agent is not going to be much assistance.

the first 14 we got with conventional loans at 30 yr  to keep the payments low. then we found banks that could do 10 for wife and 10 for me. but at 15 or so we found a bank that could combine all loans into 1 (at 4.95% and 20 yrs) and still cash flow well. in addition, they would give us a line of credit (4.5%, interest only), so we are essentially buying cash.it's been easier with them on board.

If you're considering conventional financing, remember that the banks will ask for a significant down payment (minimum 20% in most cases).  

Conventional loans are available only to individuals, not entities.  

I haven't really decided (and maybe I don't know what's best for my situation) if I want a conventional loan, portfolio, HELOC, etc.